DICKINSON, TEXAS - “Failure is not an option.” The famous words of Apollo 13 Flight Director Gene Krantz came into play again when he and his wife were rescued from Harvey’s relentless floodwaters.

Krantz told I45Now he thought they were safe to wait it out in their two-story home in Dickinson and let the rescuers focus on victims on one-stories. But the water kept rising and they knew they were in trouble.

“My youngest daughter, Jean, showed up in a boat at the front door and said she wasn’t leaving until we did,” Krantz said.

Wearing an Aggie t-shirt that said BTHO Harvey, Krantz went to the Dickinson police station Sunday to thank the first responders who risked their lives to save so many.

“This was truly an experience of people helping people,” Krantz said. “There’s people that watch things happen, people who wonder what happened. But then there’s people that makes things happen and that, I think, is the story of Dickinson.”